How to play

How to play Mahjong

Step-by-step Mahjong for a first table, including what the Tilehaus interface expects you to click.

Animated how-to: win mahjong with four groups and a pair, tap a tile you do not need, throw it away, then take three of a kind or pass. — Watch once — it loops. The words underneath are if you want them.

Good to know

A standard playing set without flowers has 136 tiles: three suits 1–9 with four copies each (108), four winds with four copies (16), and three dragons with four copies (12).
A winning hand is four melds plus one pair. Melds are a pong (three identical tiles), a kong (four identical tiles), or a chow (three consecutive tiles in one suit).
Only the player to the discarded tile's left may chow. Any player may pong, kong, or win (hu) on a discard, with win outranking pong and pong outranking chow.

Before the first tile

Open the Mahjong table. Choose seat count 4. For a first game, enable bots so empty seats still draw and discard on time.

Read the suits

Characters (wan) are numbered 1–9 in Chinese numerals. Bamboo (tiao) shows stick counts; the 1 bamboo is often a bird. Dots (tong) are coin circles.

Winds are East, South, West, North. Dragons are white, green, and red. Honors cannot form chows.

Call with priority

If more than one player can use a discard, hu beats pong/kong, and pong/kong beats chow. Tilehaus resolves claims in that order after every player has passed or called.

Keep a flexible pair

Do not lock a pair early if those tiles could complete two chows. Isolated honors are often the first discards unless you already have two of a kind.

Questions

How many tiles are in mahjong?

A Chinese playing set without bonus tiles has 136 tiles. Sets sold with flowers and seasons have 144. Tilehaus deals the 136-tile wall.

Can two players win on the same discard?

Teaching tables often award the win to a single claimant. Tilehaus currently awards the first declared hu. House rules for multiple winners vary by region.